LIV GOLF ADELAIDE

February 10, 2026

Sergio Garcia

David Puig

Luis Masaveu

Josele Ballester

The Grange

Fireballs GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the opening press conference of LIV Golf Adelaide 2026. We're joined today by the defending team champions, Fireballs GC, led by captain Sergio Garcia, David Puig, Luis Masaveu and Josele Ballester.

Sergio, reflecting on last year for a moment, what did the team win at this event in 2025 mean for the Fireballs, given the crowds, the atmosphere, the energy, and where it falls on the LIV calendar?

SERGIO GARCIA: Yeah, definitely well. Good morning, everyone.

Obviously, we're trying to win every single event we enter and we play. But if you can choose two that you really want to win, or maybe three, I guess, one would be this one. For us another one would be Spain, and then obviously the Team Championship.

But this one is a special one, and it's obviously one that I think every team wants to have their name on it. I'm very proud to say that we already did that last year, so we're excited to come here and defend our title.

Q. Josele, this will be your first LIV Golf Adelaide experience. What are your expectations and what have you heard about it heading into this week?

JOSELE BALLESTER: Well, I'm super excited. The Fireballs have done great here in the past, so cannot wait to hopefully keep up to what they've done in the last few years. I'm still looking for that first team victory with the boys, so hopefully this will be the perfect scenario to achieve that.

I remember watching some videos in the media last year, about the fans, how they engage with the players, so super pumped to be able to be out there competing and enjoying this great golf course.

Q. Luis, you were at this event last year. What's it like to be a part of this team with captain and mentor in Sergio but also a couple other young and up and coming players close to your age in hoe jail and David and can you speak to what the vibes are?

LUIS MASAVEU: Yeah, it's really a dream come true. I've been watching Sergio since I was a kid. I've been trying to get where he has done all these couple of years, and Josele and David, they have been a huge factor for me to try to improve. They've always been good role models for me as a kid.

Yeah, it's been great. It's awesome being able to practice with them. We're having a lot of fun. Yeah, it's been awesome.

Q. David, you're coming off of a T4 finish in Riyadh last week. What can you take from the first event of the season heading into week 2?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, it was a great week for me last week. I think I played really solid there in the last -- or the two events prior to that, I also managed to play good golf.

Yeah, really excited for this week and the season. I think the three of us are playing -- or four of us, sorry, we're playing really good golf, and myself, too. Hopefully we continue to play good this week and kind of have a good season as a team.

Q. Sergio, this one is probably more for you as the most mature player in the team. With the new format, would you have preferred a cut involved, or are you happy with the way that it's been laid out now with the 72 holes?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, I think it looks good the way it is with being 72 holes and everything. I mean, you could make like a little cut, but I don't think it makes that much of a difference.

I think when it comes down to world ranking points, they've already made a cut for us in the top 10. It's kind of like an unwritten rule, you may say.

I think that we're happy the way it looks, and we're excited to play hard and have good fun together.

Q. David, you've also had the team success here last year but then also the Australian PGA Championship just a couple of months ago. Is Australia becoming one of your favorite places to play?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, definitely. Played good here last year. Actually had pretty much the same flight from -- I came from Saudi when I won the PGA, and here I am again coming from Saudi again.

Hopefully I can repeat what I did in Brisbane and have a good week personally and obviously hopefully we can defend that title and have a great week here in Adelaide.

Q. Last year you were here out swimming with dolphins. Do you have anything similar planned for your time here in Adelaide this year?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, we don't. I know that Josele visited the --

JOSELE BALLESTER: Kangaroo Island. I was there yesterday. I visited this golf course that is still under construction, The Cliffs. It looks beautiful out there. Just doing some sort of media for the South Australia tourism department, and I really enjoyed my time there, so hopefully I'll be back when the course is finished.

But yeah, I heard you guys swam with dolphins last year.

SERGIO GARCIA: Which was a lot of fun. We had a great time. But this year, no. We don't have -- with being four rounds and everything, you don't have as much time, and we still need to prepare and stuff like that. Everything gets a little bit cramped up.

But yeah, we're always excited to come back to Australia. Australia is one of my favorite places in the world. Obviously I've come here many, many times in the past, and obviously to be able to come back here and play this event that has been named the best sporting event the last three years, it means a lot to us.

We're super excited about it.

Q. Just on that and LIV Adelaide, does anything compare on the LIV Tour to this tournament when you come out to Adelaide in terms of the whole thing, the way it's set up, the fans, everything like that? How important is it to protect this as it moves to different venues over the next couple of years?

SERGIO GARCIA: I mean, no. There's nothing like it. There's other tournaments that we have that have a great vibe, too, and a lot of crowds and stuff like that. But it's been very special to see the response and the reaction from the Australian crowds since they won here.

That obviously meant a lot to all of us, and it's one of the reasons -- not the only one, but it's one of the reasons why we love coming back here and playing in front of the Australian crowds and on these beautiful courses that we play here.

It is a special event, and we're always excited about it.

Q. For the young guys, I was just wondering your reaction to Elvis winning last week, 23 years old. You guys are obviously about the same age. Are the young guys ready to dominate this league?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, his performance last week was incredible. I got to play with him on Friday, and Sergio, he played, as well, with us. Yeah, he played incredible. I tried my hardest to beat him, and he just kept making birdies and playing awesome golf.

So yeah, maybe it means that the youngsters are hopefully ready to win a little more. It's just a great inspiration for me and probably for those two guys, as well, to know that in a way we're ready to win, and hopefully beat the older players more often.

Q. Josele, you came close late last year.

JOSELE BALLESTER: Yeah, seeing Elvis win last week was definitely inspirational. As you said, I got my chance in Chicago. I believe all the youngsters that are here have the ability to win on this stage. I think it's a good sign for the league that young guys like us, we can start being in contention more often and eventually win like Elvis did. Can't wait to be in contention more often and hopefully close out in a better way.

LUIS MASAVEU: Yeah, it was obviously an incredible performance for him. It shows that we can all do it. It's great that he did that great performance and was able to hold off Jon Rahm at the end. Yeah, it shows that we can do it, as well, and we just have to go out there and do it.

Q. Sergio, what's it like to mentor these three guys? Do you consider them your sons? Do you consider them your nephews? How do you process all that?

SERGIO GARCIA: They definitely could be my sons. No, to me it's a dream come true. First and foremost, to have these three guys with the quality of people that they are to start with and then the quality of players that they are, it really means so much, and also being from Spain, it's -- I remember when I came out on tour with Seve and José María, how they mentored me, how they took me under their wing and helped me walk inside the ropes and stuff like that.

I'm trying to help them as much as I can. Obviously they don't need a lot of help because they're really, really good, but they know that whenever they need anything, I'm here to have a little chat or help them in any way that I can, and obviously that to me means a lot.

Q. Josele, you're the only one up there that hasn't played the Watering Hole. Wondering if the other guys have told you what to expect.

JOSELE BALLESTER: Yeah, I've seen some videos about it. I was fortunate enough last year when I was still in college to play at the Waste Management, and I had experienced that craziness, as well. So just can't wait to be out there.

I already gave Ashton my party song, so hopefully it's well with the vibe of the tournament, and can't wait to put on a good performance and hopefully hit some good shots on that Watering Hole.

Q. Sergio, just interested in your thoughts on the change to the world golf ranking system with the points. Is it fair? Does it go far enough? What does that mean for LIV Golf moving forward?

SERGIO GARCIA: It's definitely a step forward. Is it fair? I mean, I guess time will tell us. It doesn't feel like it's totally fair. With time, obviously. Now the first few weeks obviously when one of us is winning, that guy is going to make a jump in the rankings, which is great, but then every time you finish 11th or worst you're getting a zero and you're getting an extra event on your divisor. So that in the near, a little farther future, it can hurt a lot. But like I said, it's a step forward, so it is positive. I think that at the end of the day, it's going to help some of these kids performing well to move up the rankings. Hopefully they play really well.

But unfortunately only 10 guys can finish in the top 10. Well, unless there's a couple of ties.

It would be nice if it was expanded a little bit farther as we probably think it should. But hopefully it'll come soon.

Q. I'd love to get your take on the format change to a four-day. Does that change the vibe of the tournament at all? Does that change how you prep? What does the four-day change mean to you guys?

DAVID PUIG: I mean, not really. Personally, I think for the better players of that week, I think it's definitely better because you've got to perform better for an extra day to actually win the tournament or finish high.

For me personally, I think the three-day and that first round was really important. If you started really well, you obviously had a chance to win, but you weren't guaranteed to finish high. But obviously the chances of you finishing pretty high was easier.

On the other hand, if you had a pretty poor first round, then you were kind of battling the next two days to crack the top 10 or top 15, whatever. I think it's more fair and it's just better.

SERGIO GARCIA: When it comes down to prep, obviously it's an extra day, so it makes the weeks a tiny bit longer. With traveling so much overseas, it becomes a little bit tougher to be able to get there with enough time to do prep as well as you might want to.

But we've done it our whole lives, so we know how it is. But it's good. It's fine.

Q. My question is for Sergio. We've seen a number of headlines this week about the PLAYERS Championship and sort of renewed commentary, if you will, about it being considered a fifth major. Given your history at the event, few people are probably in a better place to comment on that. I was wondering if I could get your thoughts about the event and where it stands in that fifth major consideration, if you can weigh it up with your experience of Australian here, LIV Golf Adelaide, of course, and the Australian Open and whether or not that factors in, as well?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, I'm not really going to talk about other tours, obviously, but I'll be happy to claim a second major, obviously, if that happens.

They're obviously going to do what they think is best for them. That's a totally different tour to the one that I play, and I'm just focusing here, and this is an amazing event, and we want to do well here.

Q. With what you've seen in Australian golf, particularly here, the crowds in Adelaide but also what you've experienced in Melbourne in the past, do you think Australian golf is more suited to being in that conversation about an elevated event on a world stage?

SERGIO GARCIA: I mean, definitely, without a doubt. I think that there's -- but not only Australia; there's so many places in the world that you have a great golf following. Obviously Australia is one of them.

Like I said earlier, they've shown us the excitement and how much they love the game of golf.

But I feel like this event is a great event. You have some amazing young players, great potentials. You have some stars that have been in the game for a while. You have some that are current that are playing at a great level like Jon and some others.

I think that the Australians should be super, super happy about what they have at the moment. Unfortunately, I don't think they've had a consistent field like this one year in, year out, like they've been doing for the past four years. That's nice to have.

Q. The most important thing that everyone wants to know is going back to the Watering Hole, the Watering Hole song that gets you pumped up to hit the ice on 12 to get the fans revved up. Sergio, are you going to bring that fire this week? What's the song of choice that's going to get the crowd pumped up?

SERGIO GARCIA: Funny enough, I haven't put in my song yet. I've been thinking about it, and I don't know if I want to have something with a lot of energy or something a little bit more meaningful. I'm definitely working on it, and I need to tell Ashton probably by tomorrow what I want to have there.

But I'm going to give it one extra thought and see if I want to have something really energetic or something, like more meaningful kind of lyrics.

DAVID PUIG: I think the youngsters, we have better taste in music.

SERGIO GARCIA: I'm all '80s, '90s. These guys are boom, boom, boom.

JOSELE BALLESTER: I think it's pretty important when you come to a party hole like the Watering Hole to make sure you pick a song that drops or has like a different tone in the beat at some time in the song. In my case, I did some sort of techno that has a big drop in the middle, so hopefully people like it.